Vikings gearing up for revenge on Anglers
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Thurso boss Stevie Reid says his Vikings are hungry for revenge ahead of Saturday's derby at Halkirk United.
Reid's men will make the seven-mile journey out of town to the scene of their last local tussle where the Anglers triumphed 2-1 in late December.
One small crumb of comfort for Reid was that the defeat took place in a Football Times Cup dead rubber where both teams could not catch Golspie Sutherland, who had already qualified for the final.
However, with this latest derby being a North Caledonian League fixture, the Vikings boss knows that points are at a premium.
"I think the lads will be wanting a bit of revenge for last time – especially for that second half," he said.
"Maybe the game taking place not long after Christmas had an effect because it looked as if they were struggling with the Christmas pudding.
"That's tongue-in-cheek stuff, of course, but it was strange how we could go from looking really good in the first half to what happened after half-time.
We're looking to close Invergordon's lead at the top.
"We just stopped doing what we had been doing so well beforehand in that second half, and credit to Halkirk – they took advantage.
"The one consolation from that match is that it was a cup game that meant nothing because neither of us could catch up Golspie to make the final.
"This fixture, with it being in the league, is much more meaningful. They'll be looking to get themselves higher in the league, while we're looking to close Invergordon's lead at the top to two points.
"The derby is our game in hand on Invergordon so we must make it count. We also have two games in hand on St Duthus so with this, we can overtake them and go second in the table."
Elsewhere in the North Caledonian League on Saturday, the Golspie v St Duthus dress rehearsal for this weekend's Football Times Cup final went the way of the Sutherland side as they won 3-2.
Ally Macleod gave Golspie the lead before a double from Ben Bruce put St Duthus 2-1 up. However, Liam Bremner and Eoghann Davie struck to give the home side victory.
Fixtures for Saturday
North Caledonian League
Bonar Bridge v Inverness Athletic (1pm)
Bunillidh Thistle v Orkney (12.45pm)
Halkirk United v Thurso (1pm)
Football Times Cup final
Golspie Sutherland v St Duthus (2.30pm at Dudgeon Park)
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